Survivor's Guilt
by SkullszEyes
Summary: Sebastian is attacked by Anima and finds Joseph.


It became a direct, complex thing when it appeared at the end of the hall. Sebastian could do nothing, his heart raced, and his thoughts went straight for his weapons, or for the door. He couldn't decide, not until it began to move. He couldn't reach for his gun that was in his holster once the thing drew closer, he rolled away and sprinted for the door, only to appear someplace else.

"Where am I?" he asked himself, but he could hear it, the voice, the singing behind him. He looked and saw it was there and he ran down the hall, away from it before entering another room. The creature stepped inside and began to slowly maneuver around the room while Sebastian stayed low. He crept along a counter, watching it step through a door without touching the knob.

The simplicity of it sent a shiver down Sebastian's spine. A headache thrummed against his temples, his hand going to his head, teeth clenched. The memories flashed before him, splattered along the walls of his subconscious.

Beacon Mental Hospital.

Not just the horrors that ravaged the halls, it was something else. A faraway place in darkness where the creatures moved. One individual stood there in the mass with his own flesh bubbling, he turned and snarled.

Sebastian blinked his eyes a few times, the singing echoed beyond the wall. He knew who that was, the man who was stuck in that place, who still suffered and died for it.

"Joseph." What kind of fragmented memory was that, he never had it, never seen Joseph the way he was, but only once during an episode. He had attacked him but restored himself, his guilt ravaged his mind, and it almost sent him tumbling over the edge with a gun to his head.

His communicator sounded and Sebastian moved back, turning it on.

"Kidman?"

"Sebas— what's going on? I can't—"

"Shit," Sebastian muttered, he was in a place Kidman couldn't get to him. He looked to the side to see a door with a keypad next to it. Hoping it was open, he tried the knob, but it wouldn't budge. "I have to find a keycard."

There was something longing about this entire ordeal. He wasn't sure, but it seemed neutral beyond Union and the Beacon Mental Hospital. A sense of a different time and space colliding together. He knew that Mobius shouldn't have STEM, and this was continuously proving his point.

This seems to reconstruct the notion of two different places from a memory that Sebastian was bringing in. Or the creature itself is a ghost from STEM, something they couldn't deny. He was imprinting on this entire machine, but Sebastian couldn't garner a hint of sympathy when the fact was—they shouldn't have created the damn thing in the first place.

He went through the door, listening to her singing, trying to figure out where she was. He stepped toward the door to his left, quietly going through it. The room was closed in with hospital beds, two screens and metal desks on either side of the room. He checked the desks first, looked under the beds and behind the screens and noticed a hole in the wall. The woman wasn't in the next room over, so he knelt down and crawled through.

The room was uncanny, a Beacon Hospital room that didn't crawl with the horrors he experienced, but it still felt the same. As if he never left. He checked the desk next to him and found something peculiar. He picked it up and stared at the photo of his family.

Distinct and strange, of all things to occupy this dense space. He placed the photo down, a silent hope he'd reunite with his family. He opened the drawer and inside was a keycard. He picked it up and headed for the door to the far end of the room. He listened for the singing and slowly opened the door and stepped into the hall.

The singing creature wasn't there anymore, but it was close. He didn't want to find out what it was capable of. So he crept toward the door and opened it slowly. It was on the far side of the room and was coming closer. He moved to the end of the counter and went around it, his communicator began to act up, placing his hand on it, he hoped Kidman wasn't trying to get to him while this was happening.

He watched the woman disappear into the next room and he didn't hesitate to move toward the door and the keypad. Once he got it open, he pushed the door and walked through.

He wasn't where he should be, but somewhere else. The high pitch sound shot through his head like a needle slicing into the top of his skull. He held onto the sides of his head before a flash of memory began to distort the reality he was in.

"Sebastian," Kidman's voice cut into the noise, "Sebastian, are you alright?"

A man stood at the end of the hall, his back to Sebastian. There was something about his stance, about the way his back curled and his hands went to his head. A scream echoed around Sebastian before the man toppled forward. Someone else was there, coming from the shadows, they stepped into the light.

Ruben Victoriano in his burned clothes knelt down beside Joseph and touched the side of his head.

"Ruvik?" he muttered.

There's something incomparably tender about the way Ruben touches Joseph. He lingers too long beside him, then he rises to his feet. Slowly, he turns and the room begins to distort around them. The man stares, empty, before vanishing, the room going with him.

"Sebastian?"

He grabbed the communicator as he stumbles into a long hall, one that resembles Beacon. "Kidman? Something is going on. I don't know what it is, but I saw Joseph...and Ruvik."

"That can't be right, you're not in Beacon, this is Union. Something is weird about your vitals, Sebastian, your heart rate is beating too fast."

Sebastian breathed heavily, his ear twitched at the sound of singing coming behind him. The clarity made him shudder and when it appears, he doesn't have to think about it, he starts to run.

Why did he feel utterly insignificant when this thing follows him? His presence in Beacon itself feels less than what it was, or maybe it's him. Maybe he's less than when he escaped Beacon, leaving behind something that still yearns to be approached.

"Some—wrong...Sebastian, Sebast—" The communicator went dead as the singing woman follows after him in a blur.

He's breathing harder, panic runs through his veins. Two doors appear at the end of the hall and he shoved it open, only to find himself in a room filled with beds. A mirror appears on the other side and Sebastian sees something inside it. Not just his own reflection but someone else's.

He goes to the mirror, his hand grasping his gun, and when he stands in front of it. He stares forlorn at Joseph whose on the other side.

"I left you there," Sebastian says, shaking his head. "I left you there inside STEM." He was detached to that place, but in this instance, it was like a bridge. A placement that was given to him to be closer to Joseph, to finally make amends. He knew it was impossible, but Sebastian was determined.

He pressed his fingers against it. This shouldn't have been the way it was, they should've escaped together. Joseph slowly raised his head, and he began to change, a scream that Sebastian couldn't hear, the way his hands grasp at his face, his fingers digging into his skin. He was in pain, trying his hardest to stop the transformation, but it's already too late.

"Sebastian," Joseph yells once the glass begins to break and a light appears from within. The singing grows louder behind Sebastian, but he's already through. Into the mirror where it reflects Beacon, and he walks down the corridor towards the screaming.

"Sebastian," Kidman says, "where are you?"

"Beacon," Sebastian answers, "I found Joseph."

"Joseph? What are you talking about?" Kidman asked.

"I found him. The part that I left behind, I need to get it back. I need this, Kidman."

There's a silence on the other end, a static, and Kidman says, "There's something I need to tell you about Joseph."

Sebastian nods as he draws closer to the room. "Tell me later, Kidman." He pushes the doors open and Joseph is in the center of the room, Ruvik stands near, watching Joseph.

Sebastian raises his gun and points it at Ruvik. "I should've stopped you...before you got to him. I should've...done something more." He fires at Ruvik and he disappears. Sebastian holsters his gun and walks closer to Joseph who has fallen to his knees.

His screams are tortured, and endless torment of pain.

Sebastian knelt down beside Joseph and places a hand on his shoulder. Joseph twitches, a growl leaving his throat, he turns and grasps onto Sebastian's shoulders. His face is bubbling, and his eyes are lost to whatever monstrosity Ruvik has placed him in.

Sebastian frowns, looking at him, and he embraces him. Joseph jerks, trying to get away, but Sebastian holds onto him and before long, Joseph stops and there's an exhale as his body begins to loosen.

"I'm sorry," Sebastian says into Joseph's ear as he lays him slightly on his leg and Joseph, who looks as Sebastian remembers him, stares at the ceiling, his nose bleeding. "I'm sorry."

"Sebastian," Kidman says, her voice small, "I'm sorry about Joseph...I know things could've—"

"I know, Kidman. I know."

The singing grows louder and as the woman phases through the door, the room begins to shift and Sebastian is brought back into the house where he first encountered the woman. Joseph is no longer in his arms, whatever guilt Sebastian held was still there, but he knew now he could make things better. He can end what Mobius has done, not just to him, but to Joseph.

He wipes away a tear running down his sweat stained skin, and he stands. The creatures outside growl and snarl, and Sebastian takes out his gun.


End file.
